Tokyo team demonstrates 220-meter global weather simulation

University of Tokyo researchers demonstrated a global atmospheric simulation with 220-meter grid spacing that eliminated unrealistic bursts of intense rain seen in coarser models. Published in Geophysical Research Letters, the work represents cloud updrafts and downdrafts more explicitly instead of relying on coarser formulas. The simulation contained almost 1 trillion three-dimensional grid points. Simulating eight hours of weather required more than half of the Fugaku supercomputer simultaneously. Researchers say that cost makes it unsuitable for operational forecasting, but useful as a reference for improving coarser models. Errors in the distribution of cloud cover remained.